Cheap Xmas: Donald Fagen Complete

 

If Donald had a placard around his neck, this could be a mugshot. What's the deal on that military print?... And that couch!

A few years back, I was in shopping at Macy’s on 34th street here in Manhattan and noticed that even though it was mid-October, Christmas items were on display everywhere, I mean, it wasn't even freaking Halloween yet!

As I was walking around the store, I stumbled across the Toy Department, so for "shits-and-giggles", I thought I’d look around.  Not having bought toys in several years, as my grandchildren are all now grownup, I wondered what were the hot toys for the upcoming holiday season?  As I walked through the isles of toys I noticed that most toys require absolutely no imagination whatsoever, or for that matter, any type of physical exertion, except perhaps for the rapid movement of children’s thumbs.

After looking at toys, I went to the café, which is on the same floor.  While enjoying a double espresso and a chocolate croissant, I thought of a memorable Christmas in the late 50s, when I was around ten-years old.  My mother’s brother (Uncle Émile) and his wife (Aunt Avril), were coming down to Brooklyn from Quebec City for the Holidays.  A few weeks before Christmas, Uncle Émile called us, and asked my brother and myself what presents we wanted.  When it was my turn to talk to him, I asked for a Pogo Stick, and he said, "OK, Babs, I’ll tell Père Noël" (that’s what French-speaking people call Santa Claus or Father Christmas).

As an aside, did you know that George Hansburg invented and patented the Pogo Stick in 1919?   Hansburg claimed that on his travels through Burma, he met a poor Buddhist farmer.  The farmer had a daughter named Pogo, who was a devout little girl that wanted to go to temple every day to pray, but couldn't because she had no shoes to wear for the long walk through the mud and over the slippery rocks.  So Pogo’s father built a jumping stick for her, and Pogo was able to make daily trips to the temple.  When Hansburg returned home, he made a jumping stick of his own, attaching a spring to the wooden stick contraption that the poor farmer had introduced to him.  

Another version of the Pogo stick’s origin is about a young bride named (you guessed it) Pogo whose father, hoping to spare her from soiling her wedding clothes in mud puddles, put a cross-piece on a post and had her jump across the street. Both are stories are far-fetched, but they are nice enough anecdotes.

But I digress

So, it’s Christmas morning, and Santa brought me a toy beauty kit, hula-hoop, a paint by numbers kit, and a dollhouse.  Next to Émile and Avril were more presents, that I kept eyeing up, but none looked like they had a Pogo stick inside.  Émile handed me a present that was rectangular, thick and heavy, I quickly ripped the wrapping paper off, and to my surprise (and disappointment), it was a dictionary! I said to Uncle Émile, "This isn’t a Pogo stick!" "Babs, don’t be so rude." interjected my mother.  Uncle Émile smiled and said to me, "Yes, Babs, but Pogo stick is in the dictionary!".  "Yeah, so's cheapskate!" quipped my older brother.  This caused my father to smack the back of my brother’s head, and say to him, "What did I tell you about being mister smart ass?"  My brother was, and even now at eighty-four years old, still a world-class smart ass.  All my children and grand children fondly refer to him as "Uncle Smart Ass".  My brother is aware of this, and is proud of his moniker. 

Meanwhile, back in Macy’s, I finished my double espresso and chocolate croissant, and took an Uber home.  When I returned home, I sparked up an "OG Kush Breath" spliff, and thought I’d play some Mose Allison (I had the Mose song "Ever Since the World Ended" stuck in my heads all day), specifically the two CD retrospective, 'Allison Wonderland: Anthology' which I saw earlier in the day on top of a few boxed sets.  When I picked up the Allison set, underneath it was: Donald Fagen’s boxed set 'Cheap Xmas: Donald Fagen Complete', which caused me to do a double take, and wonder if I had entered The Twilight Zone, and I pictured Rod Serling standing in the corner, cigarette in hand, and saying something along the lines of, "Babs had one foot in the Button Factory, and one foot in a place where Christmas is always a disappointment...a place called the Twilight Zone."

CD1 'The Nightfly' from1982.
This is a long time favorite of mine, and to my ears, one of the best recordings released in the 1980s.  It is a classic, among classics.

CD2 'Kamakiriad' from1993.
This is an album of slinking smooth sly witted jazzy funk, produced by Walter Becker, with audio that we’ve come to expect the duo.

CD3 'Morph The Cat' from 2006.
More irresistible grooves, that you bop your head along with, even though the lyrics deal with alien invasion and death.  This is the classic Steely Dan paradox: sugar-coated cyanide.  This record also has more guitar on it, since Steely Dan’s 'Royal Scam' from 1976, courtesy of Jon Herrington, Wayne Krantz and Hugh McCracken [No relation to Phil - Ed].

CD4 'Sunken Condos' from 2012.
‘Sunken Condos’ is jazzy, bluesy and as musically precise as anything Donald has recorded, with or without Steely Dan.  No surprise, since many of the musicians have played with him in one form or another over the years.  Most of the nine songs make room for efficient solos, tasteful backing vocals and a very clean production.

CD5 '10 Extras'
A bonus disc, "10 Extras" features rarities such as demos, songs written for films and live tracks. My favorite track is "True Companion" which was recorded for the animated feature film 'Heavy Metal'.  It’s also the oldest song on this entire collection, and was recorded a year before 'The Nightfly' in 1981.  Musically, the first half of the tune is almost a mini guitar symphony for Steve Khan, on acoustic and electric guitars.  The song also showcases Donald’s dense overdubbed vocal harmonies, he would go on to use again on The Nightfly‘s "Maxine".

The freeload is 24-bit remasters.

For the freeload, tell us about a toy or something you wanted as a child, but never got.